Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years.You discover a single carbon-14 nucleus in your laboratory.What is the probability that it will decay in the next 24 hours?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

After one half-life, the probability of decay is 0.5. After two half-lives, it is 0.25. After three half-lives, it is 0.125, etc. Therefore, after n half-lives, the probability of decay is (1/2)^n. Since the time period of 24 hours is about 1/730th of a half-life, we can estimate the probability of decay as (1/2)^730, which is approximately 3.3 x 10^-7. Therefore, the answer is B.

Carbon-14 Has a Half-Life of 5730 Years ×\times× 10-7 B) 3 ×\times×

Carbon-14 Has a Half-Life of 5730 Years $\times$ 10^-7
B) 3 $\times$